Chemical waste shipments from Ohio derailment to resume

Shipments of contaminated waste from a toxic train derailment in Ohio earlier this month will resume on Monday to two approved sites, officials announced.

The Environmental Protection Agency had ordered Norfolk Southern to pause the shipments from the derailment in East Palestine to arrange additional oversight measures concerning where waste was shipped, The Associated Press reported. Some of the waste had already been delivered to sites in Michigan and Texas.

The waste will now be shipped to two sites in Ohio. One is an underground injection well In Vickery. The other is an incinerator in East Liverpool. Other sites are still being scouted.

The 50-car train derailed early this month. Ten of the cars were carrying toxic vinyl chloride, which spilled onto the ground and erupted in a plume of smoke that forced community evacuations and triggered longer-term health concerns.

Resumed shipments of the contaminated waste is “great news for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding community, because it means cleanup can continue at a rapid pace,” local EPA administrator Debra Shore told AP.

Local and federal officials have insisted that it's safe for evacuated residents to return to the area, and that testing hasn’t detected any concerning levels of chemicals.